Is Watching Boxing Allowed in Islam?
Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Question
Are you allowed to watch professional boxing on TV in Islam, or is it impermissible (haram)?
Answer
In the name of Allah, Most Merciful.
I pray this finds you in the best of health and spirits.
The ruling of watching boxing would be derived from the ruling of boxing itself.
Boxing is Islamically problematic — as professionally practiced — because it involves striking the face, which is firmly prohibited in Islam.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade hitting even animals on the face.
[Khadimi/Birgivi, al-Bariqa al-Mahmudiyya Sharh al-Tariqa al-Muhammadiyya].
And Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.
